LEV328 True charity bestows as well as receives; "more than the householder does for the needy, the needy does for the householder". (Leviticus R. xxiv. 8). The Talmud quotes the parable of the two lambs passing through a stream, one shorn of its wool the other not. The shorn one found it easier to cross (Gittin 7a). Is not the possession of wealth rather precarious -- with us today, with another tomorrow? "A wheel rotates in this world" (Shabbat 151b explaining the words kee biglal hadavar hazeh in Deut. 15:10), causing some to be on top one day and at the bottom another. The giving of charity is constantly stressed because of this truth. That any Jew should be indifferent to the woe of another is inconceivable [this verse; Deut 14:29; Isa. lviii. 6ff; Job xxxi.13]. No duty is more important, and none ushers in salvation more speedily (B.B. 9a; Sukk. 49b; Ket. 67b).